Premier National Trophy
Lothian Arena, Armadale
Friday 9th April 1999
Normal service was resumed at Armadale as Edinburgh thrashed a ring rusty Berwick. Monarchs piled up eight 5-1 heat maximums. Only a sparkling performance by Scott Lamb rescued the Borders outfit from an even bigger beating.
Peter Carr returned against medical advice and posted an untroubled paid maximum. Both teams were at full strength on a warm but slightly overcast evening. Despite the recent controversy, the majority of the Monarchs' team stayed with the Dunlop tyres rather than switch to Barums. For Berwick, Tom Madsen had his first outing in Britain while Phil Pickering was making his professional debut at the age of 35.
Gate position B was in used with Berwick off 1 and 3 for the first heat.
Heat 1: Scott Lamb, James Grieves, Blair Scott, Dean Felton [58.0]
Scott Lamb made a cracking start from gate 1 leaving Grieves trailing. Lamb resisted all attempts by Grieves to pass. Blair Scott blasted around the outside and passed Dean Felton to tie the heat.
(3-3) (3-3)
Heat 2: Ross Brady, David McAllan, Wesley Waite, Phil Pickering [60.2]
Ross Brady and David McAllan gated. End of story despite a slip by Brady on the second bend. Phil Pickering fell at the back whilst fourth but restarted.
(5-1) (8-4)
Heat 3: Kevin Little, Stewart McDonald, Tom Madsen, David Meldrum [59.4]
A dull processional heat after Little and McDonald gated.
(5-1) (13-5)
Heat 4: Peter Carr, Ross Brady, Jan Pedersen, Wesley Waite [59.8]
Brady gated and was joined by Carr as Pedersen tried to apply some pressure. Carr swept ahead and Pedersen tried a series of inside lunges at the wide riding Brady going into the third bend. Each time it appeared that the Dane had passed the youngster, but Ross held his outside line and used the extra grip to hit the home straight ahead. On the last lap, Brady cut inside to block but Pedersen promptly swung outside in a race for the line. Brady just about managed to hang on.
(5-1) (18-6)
Heat 5: Scott Lamb, Kevin Little, Stewart McDonald, Dean Felton [58.9]
Kevin Little was first away but Scott Lamb rode a great first bend and won his second race. Stewart McDonald took a comfortable third place.
(3-3) (21-9)
Heat 6: James Grieves, Blair Scott, Jan Pedersen, Phil Pickering [59.7]
Jan Pedersen gated from trap 1 and pushed Grieves wide out to the fence. Grieves still found room to squeeze through on the boards. Meanwhile Blair Scott cut inside to join Grieves in front by the third bend.
(5-1) (26-10)
Heat 7: Peter Carr, Tom Madsen, David Meldrum, David McAllan [59.0]
Peter Carr swept ahead to win by a huge margin. Interest was maintained by a fascinating duel between Meldrum and McAllan for third place. Meldrum started better but McAllan pursued and twice appeared to have edged ahead but Meldrum just held it on the line.
(3-3) (29-13)
Heat 8: Scott Lamb, Blair Scott, Ross Brady, Wesley Waite [59.7]
Scott Lamb came in as a tactical substitute for Dean Felton. The presence of Ross Brady probably deterred Berwick from springing a 'Golden Double'. No Premier League rider can be confident of beating Brady from 15 metres back. Scott Lamb maintained his maximum after sweeping past Brady. Blair Scott took over from Brady in second place.
(3-3) (32-16)
Heat 9: Kevin Little, Jan Pedersen, Tom Madsen [60.0]
(3-3) (35-19)
Heat 10: James Grieves, Blair Scott, Tom Madsen, David Meldrum [59.8]
The impressive Grieves and Scott partnership secured another easy maximum.
(5-1) (40-20)
Heat 11: Peter Carr, Scott Lamb, David McAllan, Dean Felton [59.0]
Peter Carr ended Scott Lamb's maximum hopes with a very big win. David McAllan had another good ride to round Dean Felton
(4-2) (44-22)
Heat 12: Ross Brady, Kevin Little, Tom Madsen [59.7]
Kevin Little gated from Brady and Madsen. Brady went around the outside of Little leaving the Monarchs' captain to 'ride shotgun' and protect the youngster’s rear.
(5-1) (49-23)
Heat 13: James Grieves, Peter Carr, Scott Lamb [59.2]
Peter Carr missed the gate from trap 3 but cut inside on the second bend and blasted past Lamb and Pedersen on the back straight. Jan Pedersen looked to be in difficulties and retired.
(5-1) (54-24)
Heat 14: Jan Pedersen, David McAllan, David Meldrum [Awarded]
Berwick's last throw was to put Jan Pedersen in as a tactical substitute for Waite. Pedersen gated from Meldrum with McDonald at the back. McAllan passed Meldrum and had a real go a Pedersen. McDonald tried to pass Meldrum but overdid things on the third bend and fell. While he was able to get his bike out of the way, a fence board had become dislodged and the race was stopped and McDonald excluded. Since the riders were on their last lap, the race was awarded. This was hard luck on McAllan who looked capable of taking Pedersen when the race was stopped.
(2-4) (56-38)
Heat 15: James Grieves, Peter Carr, Scott Lamb, Tom Madsen [59.4]
Grieves and Carr secured a predictable 5-1 to round off the evening.
(4-2) (61-29)
|
Edinburgh Monarchs |
|
|
|
||||
|
James Grieves |
2 |
3 |
3 |
3 |
3 |
|
14 |
|
Blair Scott |
1* |
2* |
2 |
2* |
|
|
7+3 |
|
Kevin Little |
3 |
2 |
3 |
2* |
|
10+1 |
|
|
Stewart McDonald |
1* |
2* |
R |
X |
|
|
3+2 |
|
Peter Carr |
3 |
3 |
3 |
2* |
2* |
|
13+2 |
|
David McAllan |
2* |
0 |
1 |
2 |
|
|
5+1 |
|
Ross Brady |
3 |
2* |
1* |
3 |
|
9+2 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Berwick Bandits |
|
|
|
||||
|
Scott Lamb |
3 |
3 |
3 |
2 |
1 |
1 |
13 |
|
Dean Felton |
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
0 |
||
|
Tom Madsen |
1 |
2 |
1* |
1 |
1 |
0 |
6+1 |
|
David Meldrum |
0 |
1* |
0 |
1 |
|
|
2+1 |
|
Jan Pedersen |
1 |
1 |
2 |
R |
3 |
|
6 |
|
Phil Pickering |
0 |
0 |
F |
|
|
|
0 |
|
Wesley Waite |
1 |
0 |
0 |
|
|
|
1 |
James Grieves put in another impressive show dropping only one point in the opening heat after being outgated by Scott Lamb. Kevin Little also was only beaten once by Lamb. Peter Carr showed what Monarchs had been missing last week with a dominant paid maximum.
Stewart McDonald made a good start but hit problems (and tactical substitutes) in his last two rides. Blair Scott put his poor home displays behind him with a determined show dropping only two points both to Scott Lamb.
David McAllan had his best meeting for Monarchs to date and was rather unlucky with a paid six points. He was narrowly beaten by Meldrum in heat 7 and could have beaten Pedersen in heat 14 when the race was stopped. Ross Brady was also denied a paid maximum by tactical substitute Scott Lamb in heat 8.
Scott Lamb was the only competitive Berwick rider. He has never performed particularly well at Armadale although none really knows why. It was a very impressive performance from someone who has been out injured for so long. Jan Pedersen filed to display his normal strong Armadale form. Tom Madsen clearly struggled in his first outing in Britain and collected mostly gift points.
Meldrum beat McAllan in heat 7 and also picked up a point in heat 14 but the rest is best forgotten. The Berwick lower orders failed to score apart from one point for Waite in the second heat.
Man of the match: Peter Carr for a paid maximum after injury.
Most exciting rider: David McAllan for some gutsy overtaking.
Next meeting: v Glasgow, Premier National Trophy, Armadale on Friday 16th April 1999
John Lowe